Your Right to Know

The Ohio Court of Claims has approved a $300,000 claim to be paid by the Ohio Department of
Transportation to a Delaware County motorcyclist who suffered extensive injuries when he hit a
pothole on a state highway in northwestern Ohio in 2007.

Michael Harmon was thrown off his motorcycle and suffered more than a dozen injuries, some
causing permanent disability and requiring $1.2 million in medical and related expenses. Harmon
also incurred $58,000 in lost wages.

Harmon argued in a lawsuit filed four years ago that the state had been made aware of the
pothole on the Rt. 2 on-ramp from Rt. 269 in Ottawa County but had not repaired it. Several other
accidents reportedly were caused by the pothole.

As a result, the Court of Claims found the state liable for Harmon's accident. The approval of
the award was announced yesterday.